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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me a commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here."

- John 14:15-31

In our current readings, Jesus and the disciples are at the Last Supper, and He is speaking to them. He has revealed that He will be betrayed. He said to them, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in
Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself;
that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and
the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You
are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from
now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for
us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have
not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how
can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not
speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the
works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else
believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I
do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I
go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that
the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name,
I will do it."

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and
He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever --
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither
sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and
will be in you." The word in Greek translated here as Helper is "Parakletos." It refers to the Holy Spirit. My study bible says that this title also means "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate." The word parakletos literally means the who comes by your side when called, and meant something similar to an advocate in a courtroom. Furthermore, my study bible says that the Spirit of truth is in each believer, and we are called to know Him. It notes that the Holy Spirit prays in us and for us when we do not know how to pray, enabling us to pray in Christ's name (see yesterday's reading, verses 14:13-14, also Romans 8:26.) The Holy Spirit also gives us words of witness when we speak the gospel (Mark 13:11), also related to testimony and the language of justice.

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while
longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I
live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My
Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and
keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves me will be loved by
My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not
Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself
to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered and said to him, "If
anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and
We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me
does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the
Father's who sent Me." My study bible notes that the brief separation of Jesus from the disciples at His death will lead to a deeper mystical union after the Resurrection and to the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. When Jesus says, At that day . . ., He is referring to Pentecost. St John Chrysostom writes that it is "the power of the Holy Spirit that taught them all things." And here is the depth of love: the Holy Spirit communicates to us all truth concerning Him, and the promise is that for those who keep His commandments, Father, Son, and Spirit will return that love and makeOur home with him.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But
the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He
will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that
I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as
the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid." Here Christ affirms the relation of Father, Son, and Spirit and their dwelling with us and in us. Peace, my study bible points out, was the customary Jewish word of both greeting and farewell. Perfect peace is given by Christ, who reconciles humanity to God (Ephesians 2:14). Peace is also part of the traditional greeting of Christians to each other (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3). The greeting "Peace be to all" is offered many times during liturgical services of the Church.

"You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'
If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the
Father,' for My Father is greater than I."My Father is greater than I does not indicate nature or essence, because Father and Son share one divine nature. Also the Son is not created, but begotten from all eternity (as John's Gospel has taught is in its Prologue (John 1:1-18). What Jesus means is that the Father, as Fountainhead of the Trinity (as the Church calls Him), is the eternal cause of the Son.

"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to
pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the
ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me. But that the
world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me a
commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here."Before it comes is a reference to Jesus' Passion; He has given the disciples a full warning of what is coming so that it strengthened their faith. The ruler of this world is the devil, whom my study bible says dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments. Jesus says the devil has nothing in Me because there can be no compromise between Christ or His followers and the devil. Although Jesus became Man, He was never stained with sin. That Jesus says let us go from here has been understood to mean He takes His disciples to another room or location to finish His talk with them, in order to get their undivided attention. St. John Chrysostom writes that their current location was open to intrusions, and the disciples likely to be distracted from fear.

Once again we observe that Jesus uses the language of love -- this time even more explicitly than in other examples in the Gospel -- to teach the disciples in this farewell address at the Last Supper about what is to come. The great good news in today's reading is about the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls the Helper. This Third Person of the Trinity adds yet another degree of depth to the teachings of Jesus about love and communion of the Father and the Son and those who become children by adoption through faith. He has spoken to the disciples before about what is coming, His Passion, death, and Resurrection, and taught them that He goes to the Father so that they can be with Him. But here He becomes more explicit about the work of the Spirit, the Paraclete, in the world and in them. The language of love becomes more clear: "If you love Me keep My commandments ... He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And
he who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and
manifest Myself to him ... If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him,
and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not
love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine
but the Father's who sent Me ... If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I ... But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me a commandment, so I do." Let us observe that in all of these statements, love and obedience are intertwined. This love is a kind of loyalty at the depth of the heart that cannot be reached by any other means, because His talk of love is mingled with the knowledge and the certainty that Father, Son, and Spirit not only love us first but even dwell within us in a depth of communion deeper than all that we know. The power of this love is something unbreakable when it is bonded with our faith and our love in return. Therein is the peace that He promises for us: not that we will not have troubles and tribulation, but that we will know this depth of His love that is always with us and always made present through the Holy Spirit -- so that all three Persons of the Trinity dwell within us, to use Christ's language. He gives not as the world gives, but fully and wholly, so that we who are His children may always be with Him and He with us: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." This is the living Spirit, the promise of the living water that He made to the woman at Jacob's well, the Spirit about whom He taught to Nicodemus. Can we measure such a gift that helps and shapes us at such a depth and gives us so much? What does it take to receive this gift? The measure of love that we can give to it, to hear, to learn, to follow.

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